Within a turbo fan engine that utilizes a cascade type thrust reverser, there are typically a plurality of blocker doors that deploy in order to redirect engine bypass air thru a set of cascades that redirect the airflow out and forward in order to reverse the direction of the thrust of the engine. This may be done to slow an aircraft after landing. Referring to FIG. 1A, a system 100 is shown. The system 100 includes a sleeve 102 that is translated or moved in, e.g., an aft direction in order to expose cascades 104 as part of the deployment of the thrust reverser. Similarly, in order to place the thrust reverser in a stowed state (e.g., during flight) the sleeve 102 is translated or moved in, e.g., a forward (FWD) direction, such that the sleeve 102 may contact or abut a nacelle structure 106. When in the stowed state, the cascades 104 are not exposed. FIG. 4 illustrates the system 100 in the stowed state. An entirety of a nacelle is shown in FIG. 4, whereas a portion (e.g., a half) of the nacelle is shown in FIG. 1A.
FIG. 1B illustrates a blocker door 108 of the system 100 hinged to the sleeve 102 near a point 110. Additionally, the door 108 is attached to the inner fixed structure 114 of the thrust reverser via a drag link 112 that retains the door 108 in position during normal flight as well as aids in the deployment of the door 108 during thrust reverse mode. During flight, the door 108 forms, in part, the outer surface of a bypass duct. The drag link 112 crosses this bypass duct in attaching to the inner fixed structure.
New configurations for a thrust reverser have been proposed which represent improvements over the basic, common configuration illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B. Some of these new configurations feature a first and second movable structure that must each be moved during thrust reverser deployment at different rates of movement. For example, in co-pending patent application Ser. No. 14/534,988 filed Nov. 6, 2014, a thrust reverser is proposed with a primary and secondary sleeve each of which slides in a fore and aft direction, and each of which requires a different range of motion or stroke, and different actuation rates. It would be possible to include two separate thrust reverser actuation systems which each independently actuate the primary and the secondary sleeve. However, such an arrangement might be heavier and costlier and less optimal in other respects, too. This disclosure proposes a way to link the deployment of two (or possibly more) components, such as a primary and secondary sleeve, so that their deployment can be linked and coordinated and may be accomplished with a single thrust reverser actuation system. Of course, in addition to the specific embodiments disclosed in patent application Ser. No. 14/534,988, there are other embodiments of thrust reversers which would also benefit from this capability.